It’s hard to not be happy after a win, but with the way the Oregon Ducks played in their season opener , it’s more than fair.
A win is a win, absolutely. Oregon still has a ton of opportunity in front of them and talent on the roster, but beating FCS University of Idaho by a margin of only 10 points, and allowing the game to get down to a three point lead in the fourth quarter, was far from inspiring.
Head coach Dan Lanning apparently agrees. A video was released by the Oregon Ducks twitter account, in which Lanning’s message to the team in the locker room was included.
“I’m disappointed in the process tonight,” Lanning started. “Not the result, the process. The process wasn’t sharp enough. I’m not going to let you down by saying ‘great win.’ That’s not the way I feel. Hey, they played a good game. Credit to them. Do not discredit anything they did. But I would own our standard. Our standard doesn’t change regardless of who we play. Who we playing?”
“Us” the team responded.
“We’re playing us. We’re playing Oregon. So when you play Oregon next week, what’s your measure? What you do, is you dust yourself off and say ‘here’s where I can get better. Here’s where I can make my team better,'” Lanning continued. “Every one of you should be proud to wear that green. I promise you I’m proud to coach you. A great team can learn from wins. Don’t make adversity the reason you learn. Can you learn from tonight?”